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US supercomputing experts partner with CSIR

Marin'e Jacobs
By Marin'e Jacobs
Johannesburg, 18 Jul 2013
Executive director of the CSIR Meraka Institute, Laurens Cloete, says various industry problems can be addressed with the power of supercomputing.
Executive director of the CSIR Meraka Institute, Laurens Cloete, says various industry problems can be addressed with the power of supercomputing.

A partnership between the Centre for High Performance Computing (CHPC) and the National Centre for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) based in Illinois, US, could present solutions to a number of problems faced by South Africa.

Scientists from the NCSA are visiting the CHPC at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in Pretoria and Cape Town this week. The purpose of the visit is to explore cross-collaboration and partnering opportunities between the two entities, that will help tackle problems in various industries such as health, hazard management, advanced manufacturing, astronomy, natural resource and earth sciences.

According to NCSA executive director Danny Powell, SA is a major source of talent and innovation in the global high-performance computing industry. "There are areas where we [US] can learn from you [SA] and areas where you can learn from us," says Powell.

"There's a lot of talent here. If you take the number of PhDs in a certain discipline or the quantity of publications, SA will not have as much as the United States, but you will find as much quality here as you will find anywhere else in the world."

Tackling problem areas

Executive director of the CSIR Meraka Institute, Laurens Cloete, says one of the areas being focused on is the problems faced by the public health sector. "The CSIR is supporting the national Department of Health in looking at ways to improve particularly public health. This is an area where the NCSA has done a lot of work."

Cloete explains that correct collection and management of data can help to address medical issues, such as how diseases spread and which part of the population is most at risk. This leads to much more effective prevention and treatment efforts.

Another point of discussion is the management of natural hazards, particularly fires in SA, an area in which CSIR has done a lot of work in, says Cloete.

He explains the CSIR has developed the Advanced Fire Information System, a satellite monitoring system for fires. The system uses earth observation satellites, which can detect hotspots or locate fires within minutes. In addition to pinpointing actual fires, it can also identify potential fires and provide information on fire spread probability and direction.

"We have the world-leading technology for detecting fires from space. So we want to leverage the work we've done with fires to other natural disasters, for example floods. And here we recognise some areas where the NCSA has done some very good work."

Cloete says a third area of interest is the stimulation of industry competitiveness. This includes methods in which high-performance computing can help companies with aspects such as improving manufacturing, lowering prices or producing a better yield, to name a few.

Collaboration opportunities in astronomy will also be discussed. "NCSA has vast knowledge on how to deal with astronomy data; how to archive, digest and manage that data. So there is a lot we can learn from them," says Cloete.

Partnering with other institutions all around the world has always been a priority for NCSA, says Powell. "NCSA has a lot of competencies and CSIR has a lot of competencies. But there's never going to be just one group who has all the answers. So it is being able to identify people with other skill sets that can get together with yours and you create something that neither one of you would have been able to do by yourselves."

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